


Crush

by PeroxidePirate



Series: Bright Future [3]
Category: Tortall - Pierce
Genre: F/F, F/M, OT3, Other, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-26
Updated: 2010-02-26
Packaged: 2017-10-07 13:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeroxidePirate/pseuds/PeroxidePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of ficlets, set after my stories "Bright Future" and "Someone." Raoul and Buri are getting more serious about each other, but Kel still has a crush on Buri. Written for Goldenlake's Tortall Smackdown, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I've seen Kennan around the palace, lately,” Raoul said, conversationally.

“Oh,” Kel replied. “I heard he was back.”

“You haven't seen him, though?”

“No.” She looked away.

“So you're no longer..?”

“No. No longer.”

“I see.” He put down his book. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “It won't help.”

Raoul coughed, slightly awkward. “If it would help to talk with a woman, I'm sure Buri would...”

“No,” she replied, very quickly, as the figurative mask dropped over her face. “Thank her for me, please, if she's offered. But really, I'd rather not.”

“Suit yourself, of course,” he answered, and made a mental note to ask Buri what she knew.


	2. Chapter 2

“Did you know Kel's not seeing Cleon of Kennan anymore?” Raoul asked, when they were sitting in his rooms, after supper one night.

Buri shook her head. “I hadn't heard.”

“There's something about it she's not telling me. Not that she has to, of course. But I care about her, and I don't want to see her hurt.”

“I'd guess that she did the hurting, on this one.”

“Oh. Has she talked to you about it?”

“About Cleon? Not exactly.”

“Then what makes you say..?”

“Raoul? It isn't your business. She has a secret. Just accept it, all right?”


	3. Chapter 3

After that, Raoul watched his squire more carefully than he meant to. She had a secret – a secret Buri knew – that made her decide to break things off with a young man who had, so far as Raoul could tell, been good to her. But he saw no evidence that she was embarking on a new romance. If she (as he suspected) had a new crush, he assumed it was the unrequited sort.

It was something Buri knew, either because Kel told her, or because she'd guessed. But neither of them would tell Raoul. He told himself it was folly to assume the secret involved him – but he wondered, especially when he began to notice how often Kel found a reason to be elsewhere when Buri came to his rooms.


	4. Chapter 4

“You have to tell me, Buri,” Raoul insisted. “I know I promised not to pry, but she's my squire, and things are getting tense.” It had been three months since he learned of Kel's secret, and it was getting progressively harder for him to work with her.

“Raoul.” She crossed her arms over chest, plainly annoyed. “It's not my secret to tell.”

“All right,” he finally said, “I'll guess. Just tell me if I'm right: does she have a crush on me?”

Buri began to laugh. “You thought...!” she gasped, between cackles. “You thought she had a crush on you!?”

“Oh,” he said, suddenly understanding. “I see.”


	5. Chapter 5

Outside the door to Raoul's study, Kel stopped. She heard voices from within: her knight-master's voice, and Buri's. She hesitated, listening, in spite of herself. They were talking about her.

It was bad enough that Buri knew how she felt. Now it sounded like Raoul had figured it out, too. And they were laughing. Her knight-master, with whom she had to spend the next two years, like it or not. And her friend – her knight-master's increasingly serious lady friend – who had promised to keep her secret. They both knew about Kel's crush on Buri, and they were laughing.

At least they didn't know about Kel's crush on Raoul. She tried to take some comfort in that.


	6. Chapter 6

“Kel?” Raoul's voice was serious, but strangely tentative.

Kel was on the curtain wall, tucked into a niche between turrets, looking at the ground. At times like this, she took comfort from knowing that even if the rest of her life was a shambles, she had at least beaten her fear of heights.

Calm as a lake, she reminded herself, and carefully eased her way out of the niche.

“You overheard us, I take it?”

“I'm sorry,” she said, looking down at her feet. “I didn't mean to eavesdrop. And I don't mean to come between you...” Her voice cracked. “Between you and Buri. But you didn't have to laugh.”


	7. Chapter 7

“The joke's on me,” Raoul explained, smiling ruefully. “Buri was laughing, because I thought your crush was on me, not on her.”

Kel's mouth went dry. “If she didn't tell you, what would you have done?”

“Something stupid,” he said easily, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Kissed you, maybe,” he admitted. “Just to see. Even though I know better.”

She looked up at him, wondering why she had this sudden urge to be totally honest. “And what if I said you weren't entirely wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I love you both,” she whispered.


	8. Chapter 8

“That makes a difference,” Raoul said.

“I don't know what's wrong with me.” Kel attempted a watery smile.

“Kel.” He put an arm around her, looking down into her face. “Nothing is wrong with you. I mean that: nothing.”

She hated the way her mind focused on the touch of his arm. “But....”

“This either makes things very complicated, or very simple,” he said. “Come on.” He steered them away from the wall, toward the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

“To find Buri, and ask her which it is.”

“I was afraid you'd say that.”


	9. Chapter 9

Buri looked up at Kel, one arm wrapped around her neck and the other around her waist. “I told you to tell me when you figured out what you wanted!”

“But this...” Kel closed her eyes, overwhelmed again. When she opened them, she saw Lord Raoul, hovering in the background.

Buri seemed to guess what was the matter. “Raoul?” she said, over her shoulder. “Give us a few minutes, would you?”

“Now listen,” Buri said, when they were alone. “A lot of us want things that aren't what people would call normal. It takes courage to admit that, and even more to do something about it. But I know you, Kel. You're not lacking in courage.” She cracked a smile – an adorably teasing smile, the like of which Kel had only hoped to see directed at herself. “Neither is he, and neither am I. So tell us what you want.”


	10. Chapter 10

“I want you,” Kel said, drawing Buri down onto the bed and into a kiss that proceeded to leave them both dizzy and gasping. “I want you both.”

“I know.” Buri nuzzled her neck, then her throat, as she settled her weight above the younger woman.

“You knew it all along, didn't you?”

“Let's say I suspected. I hoped, maybe.” She slid her thigh between Kel's legs, the alternation of limbs giving them both something to push against, and kissed her neck. Kel sighed in pleasure.

“Do you think this will work out?” Kel asked, running hands over Buri's back, sides, hips.

“There's only one way to find out.” Buri hovered, lips parted, her face only a few inches above Kel's. “Let's start now.”

“Without--?” Kel began.

“He'll be back soon enough.” Buri grinned wickedly. “Let's get a head start.”


End file.
